a. girl. like. me. welcome to the lower show welcome to the real headlines with none of the mercy we're going to live in washington d.c. now today we'll ask if murdoch's fall is inevitable nation's editor katrina vanden heuvel will join us also look at the afghanistan a general david petraeus leaves behind as he officially hands over command of the war today and we'll tell you about the most important geo location company that you never heard up they've got technology that governments all over the world are trying to buy up we're going to have all of that and more for you tonight including

a does it happy hour but first let's take a look at what the mainstream media has decided. well the debt limit talks still holding the country on the brink of a default and with america's longest war coming under a new command there was one story of the mainstream media made sure to cover first this morning we're going to begin with casey anthony a free woman today a whereabouts a secret for the first time in three years casey anthony is no longer behind bars yesterday morning she did this and a lot of people were surprised they didn't sneak around to the back door to see and then the watch right out of the front door at this point she has vanished she's calling her boy. those surrounding her trying to protect her think at least for the short term that was the best thing for casey. can you believe that you just walk right out of the front door with all those vultures waiting outside for her oh wait

those vultures are the press the same mainstream press that apparently shedding a lot of tears at the idea that now she'll be free she'll be out and she's going to be keeping the hell away from that and when they've been covering the story i don't blame her if she literally finds some underground dungeon to spend the rest. three days and or maybe she stayed in prison until august second when the debt ceiling deadline hits and the mainstream media is going to be distracted but then again well they can't control themselves even an economic freefall can keep them away from a pretty young girl who nancy grace made out to be the devil but even if that deadline isn't for another couple weeks it's not like there hasn't been other big news out there you just heard a report by jeremy scahill from the nation on the cia's secret sites in somalia the ones where the cia is running a counterterrorism training program paying it somalis two hundred dollars a month to run prisons where prisoners are held have been rendered from kenya it's now one story that sheds light on the obama administration for continuing all of

those actions and they criticize the bush administration for we interviewed jeremy on this program last week for some reason one of the big networks and i literally made it not a single one of them decided to give the story any play but then suddenly suddenly today the l a times came out with some groundbreaking information that new american intelligence raises concerns about a widening alliance of islamic terrorist groups plotting to target the u.s. and you know where that alliance is yemen and somalia and you know how they found out some of that information well according to the l a times it was learned when some mali all thore allow the cia to interview shabaab militants imprisoned in mogadishu now this is all according to anonymous u.s. officials of course but it's not on that first the story is completely ignored and now the l a times is reporting on it from anonymous u.s. officials and they don't bother to ask why somalia authorities would be so kind as

to let the cia interview their prisoners they don't bother to connect the dots ask of maybe that's because scales report was correct these are people at the cia works very closely with who they pay so they can treat them as proxies and not have to get their own hands dirty and isn't it odd that suddenly after scales rather damning report. the obama administration officials are now so eager to talk about how dangerous somalia and al-shabaab have become and how they pose a serious threat to our national security you know the government is feeding this story for a reason and the l a times has been more than happy to eat it up no questions asked it's an incredible testament to the very subservient nature of the press these days this is why our war on terror expand throughout the world an unstoppable pace and americans continue to sit scared and let it happen because it's in the government's interest to do so to continue to spread that fear and the mainstream media rather than asking any questions is happy to let it happen and miss the real story.

well hacking scandal surrounding group or murdoch's media empire continues to grow each day last friday it was hinted publisher of the wall street journal and a c.e.o. of dow jones resigned over the weekend former news of the world of the rebecca brooks was arrested scotland yard chief paul stephenson stepped down on sunday night and by today john gates the assistant commissioner was also on his way now at the request of certain members of congress eric holder and the justice department have now launched an investigation into whether or not victims of nine eleven had also been hacked and bloomberg reported today that news corp's independent directors have begun to questioning the company's response to the crisis and whether a leadership change is needed and he cited unnamed sources there so it was time to start questioning if murdoch's time as the media mogul's coming to an end and is this the scandal that the left has been waiting for you and me for discuss it is katrina vanden who will editor and publisher of the nation magazine for trina

thanks so much for joining us tonight it's been a while since we've had you on the program now what do you think is murdoch is he going to step down is he going to be forced to is there any way the continue on can continue on his head here. well what we do know early on and let me just say this it's not just a scandal that the birth so this is a scandal that should worry any citizen of any country who cares and public interest media but actually it's about democracy this is a metastasizing scandal we don't know where or i mean just look at what's happened in the last hours the whistleblower first whistleblower who blew the lid on. the he's he's now been found the key thing is ten people arrested close to murder the head of scotland yard as you said his deputy what we are seen is the criminal need political nexus corroding in the u.k. and as you pointed out very important questions now need to be raised about murder

about his empire and their activities in this country the u.k. will have if you're into more calling grouper and his son james murdoch it will be watched but once you have the police involved as we've seen not just hacking but the driver of police or secret insider information i think all. but do you think that let's say is rupert murdoch is he smart enough to say that hey this is the brits this is the way that they do it yes of course he is the head of this massive british media empire there but british journalism tabloid journalism specifically has always been known to go a couple of steps farther than the u.s. press has so if his hands aren't exactly dirty do you think that it will still come down to him that he himself as a key figure with all suffer well what murdoch and his p.r. firms are trying to do is keep this as narrow as possible to talk about how this is

a rogue operation or rogue up a few outlets a few reporters rupert murdoch is a thoughts at the sky has fallen on him and he now just how much control then was trying to control has fought his way to media and. on three continents he does not have as much control as he has had in the past so i do think we could see as you alluded to at the beginning the end of the burdock empire as we know new leadership new governance however as you know i'm going to because you cover the us media murdoch ization is with us the degradation of political debate discourse till a chanst scandal instead of news that is what i think needs to be investigated and repaired as well as u.s. investigations into whether nine eleven families own her heart and also now we're learning that we need to look into the foreign corrupt practices act because your work your doc is a u.s. citizen having fun hard to become one news corps in the united states if it's

obscenity or it's news international bribing police officials i think we need to look at how that should be applied and as you pointed out the department of justice has opened a limited investigation the f.b.i. is reviewing nine eleven hacking allegations the s.e.c. should be looking into this and our congress a few independent minded senators who have cared about me or are now asking for investigation do you think it's going to be hard to find some of those independent minded senator is as john nichols wrote in the nation today if you look at the way that murdoch has been able to convince lawmakers to. to get rid of many of the regulations here in the u.s. over the years that his media empire can keep expanding there's a lot of money involved here a lot of money that's been thrown at political campaigns mr murdoch and his minions have lubricated our political process and they have bought their way to be you ownership rules in this country imperiling democracy and i think you know have

a media landscape that is consolidated conglomerate ties and murdoch. and he has a lot a lot of b.s. on the other hand you never say never but we are looking at now is in the u.k. i scandal there was no and all power to the guardian which stayed on it who's extraordinary reporter nick davis has like the word and bernstein of watergate in one he stayed on it even when the head of scott new york who resigned just the other day came in and spoke to alan rusbridger the head of the guardian and said your reporter full of inaccuracy never say never went public revulsion erupts it can change even moving a man and mogul who has no scruples reckless irresponsible journalists were hurt up can be pushed aside and i think that is for citizen power people power can overtake . the ugliest and most corrosive of those who have to form democracy what do

you think because the last three journal i wrote an unsigned this week and that's been gaining a lot of heat where they attack a number of other media organizations including the new york times and pro publica and the guardian but they say this scandal and those who have jumped on it and been so happy to jump on it are acting as if every single journalist that works for news corp has now been tainted do you think of that a fair assessment should we start questioning anybody that works for the company or only those on the higher levels well i'm going to err on the so questioning more than sitting back and if the ending and i don't think the wall street journal was really on the side they didn't get the p.r. message out in the u.k. about i'm sorry but as i said earlier this isn't just protect the minute to limit it when in fact you have big media culture and organization and news corp it is tainted rotten but it is true that the tabloid culture in the u.k. is you know there's a lot of stuff going on the danger of going to have to sit in the u.k.

as you know there are liable if you got secrets acts we don't need more prosperous frictions on the media we need a freer media and the attempt for camera the u.k.'s prime minister to use this to impose more press restrictions is the wrong one what we need are through rigorous investigations into the illegality the criminal law breaking of news corp news international and that's where our attention was and that's where the wall street journal i think is just desperate to kind of find a way out of it there's but then again the wall street journal has found a way to let the hankers scot free as they support regulations and lubricated their way to easy cuts do you think that americans should start questioning at fox news or the last three journal though let's say that it does come out it is true that nine eleven victims that their phones were happy that something that struck a chord with a lot of americans but has the damage already been done are they already so in

mashed with fox news in the ratings that considering that it beats out every other cable network on television here. i you know that i'd like to take this out of an ideological spectrum because you know i think fox news well first of all i don't think positives and his organization in many ways it's an adjunct to republican party that has become extraordinarily extremist but i care deeply about the conflicts standards the ethics of churnalism in this country and independents and i do think murdoch and his empire have tried to wipe away all of that and becomes the embodiment of as you know one on a fox has been at the forefront at the forefront of misinformation to use a kind word about climate change it has been at the forefront of race baiting since he filled vitriol and i think has played a role in an atmosphere in this country where you could argue we live in a post truth environment and that's very dangerous for a heart procedure for any country so i just think americans i hope is part of this

and i hope cox and wall street journal don't try to work it up birddog it up and try to make this about broke out holes or about politics but i think we need to stand up for stronger ethics better journalists of color you charles another time when we needed help a lot less scandal to do until ation and i think we're going to see an opportunity a door open for that conversation and not seize it now well we'll see how it actually turns away. but i'm with you there thank you so much for joining us tonight. just ahead our team correspondent christine looks into what happens and one of the most secretive records for politicians and she tells us about bohemian grove and general david petraeus handed over command of the afghan war today will a new leader actually bring a different strategy but it's meant lawrence wilkerson retired u.s. army colonel and former chief of staff to colin powell.

you know sometimes you see a story and it seems so cool please if you understand it and then you did something else here's some other part of it and realize that everything is ok if you don't know i'm charged because a big picture. where we are the elite and yet though. fuck fuck fuck. fuck.

let's not forget that we live in apartheid right. i think. even funny well. whenever the government says they're keep you safe get ready because your freedom.

well after a year in charge general david petraeus has now officially handed over control of the afghan war general john allen but could the rampant violence in just the last few days be a bad sign after the assassination of hamid karzai as half brother last week on sunday night john muhammad caught another karzai ally and former governor from the south of the country was killed in his home two afghans out of a group of thirty three who had been kidnapped last week or beheaded in western afghanistan allegedly for supporting the afghan government the police chief in kandahar and three other officers were killed by a roadside bomb in the south and today three nato soldiers were killed by a bomb in eastern afghanistan as well as one in the south and yet on his way out general david petraeus continued to cite progress in the country so when is reality going to sink in we're here to discuss this with me is lawrence wilkerson retired u.s. army colonel and former chief of staff to colin powell lawrence thanks so much for being here tonight. this is not necessarily something new course of violence death political assassinations in afghanistan but do you think that the timing should

tell us anything here considering that its radius is leaving now that recently the withdrawal timeline has been announced now that we're seeing so many of these political moves i think that's probably true in defense of general petraeus when he was central command commander he said he would get immediately following the increase in troops and say we get worse before it got better it is as a as you illustrated i think it is getting worse i think it's going to get even worse the central issue still though you know my central issue is pakistan and if we don't stop this squabbling over whether we're going to give certain monies to pakistan or not and give them and further demoralize the i'm for size the military the civilians and so forth we're going to have a problem there even though this is ministration wants desperately to get out of afghanistan at least major tree formations that we can you know we simply can't leave because pakistan is going to be in bad shape there to leave will simply be to

get reintroduction of major forces to restabilize or try to restabilize parts so then sell me about general john allen who's about to take over and petraeus is former all after just a year do you think that he's someone who's capable of this job how is he going to handle it well i taught at the marine corps war college for four years and frankly . person per person i prefer marine general so army to really wild because there are more candid they're more straightforward and generally speaking they're willing to speak truth to power a little more this is somebody who army generals i don't know if he's that particular character it becomes extremely difficult when you put on the force or whether you're wearing green or brown but someone has to begin to tell the president from a military perspective how on tunable our situation is in afghanistan and quit this business it's going to get better tomorrow or it's going to get better next week it

will be tough for the next six months but it will get better in a year because it is not going to get better is he somebody you think that holds the same popularity here on capitol hill the way that general dave petraeus does when it comes to lawmakers congress really being blind to anything that he might be saying that isn't true because he's just such a popular guy and everybody listens on the congressman love generals they can hide but they love a general that will come out there and do what they want them to do in the perspective that they want to but they love to hide behind successful generals so to try as has been that sort of the general for that whether or not general allen or anyone for that matter in their domicile can be combat kind of general in the wake of the trejos and with what's happening now is really question so i'm wondering would come to mind you know you're saying that congressman often like you hide behind these generals on a camera do you think that we're starting to see a little bit of a shift in a sense where some lawmakers are being more vocal about opposing the war you have

about wanting to bring troops home to ten years from our war in vietnam or if you believe thirteen years if you want to go back all the way to the beginning we'll be getting the southeast asian conflict but yes i think you're right i think the physical status unknown the money the trillions of dollars that were pouring down the coffers of nothing. he was beginning to serve people in well we should begin to disturb some people all the time person to serve right now and this isn't specifically tied to the war in afghanistan although i guess you could say that anything post nine eleven war on terror is tied together and of course the obama administration asked for f.b.i. director robert mueller is term to be extended for two years to robert mueller also somebody popular with congress to which everyone said yes let's do it let's make sure that this is a one time one time scenario and so we'll have to vote on it and now senator rand paul has actually blocked that and said that he has a couple questions for robert mueller first what do you think about me if i'm good why did

a portion of at least the commentary on it i've read his letter was available to. it why did that song one is finally as one historian said about the populist party in the late eighteen hundred however ignorant and even though many might be restoring some democracy to this republic because that's a suitably what he's trying to do and i'm not insinuating that he's a view those adjectives is going to address what the tea party i would quickly put it meant category in many instances but nonetheless they are going after what is the heart of this democracy and that's our freedom our civil liberties and so forth which have been much abused since nine eleven particularly by the bush administration but a warning really in many respects continued by the obama administration yeah and here specific they misread or his letter he's referring to certain provisions of the patriot act and roving wiretaps and the abuse of national security letters those are many things that he was trying to get answer to before when he was trying

to block the patriot act from being extended for another four years so it's good to see him going after and now last question as a little bit off topic but as i was telling the audience we interviewed jeremy scahill from the nation last week about his piece on the cia's secret sites in somalia what do you make of that is that we're using using we're. other people as a proxy now to continue to get well in another place not been some are you so i can't comment directly on it but i can tell you that i saw what was going on when we were doing this and other countries like thailand and so forth and i suspect it was we're doing in some argue with maybe some gradations of difference given that it's president obama not president bush or it's a president cheney. is much too so you but we are using the somalis by turning our faces when things we don't like occur but nonetheless condoning them by that turn face we're using the same always to do what we don't want to do you know what we've been restricted from doing now whether it includes torture and i don't

know but i'd be very surprised if it does something that they haven't restoration is trying to keep their hands clean from something that they criticize the bush administration for it's ok just having some history along thanks so much for joining us through. how do you know that many well connected and high ranking people in our government participate in an annual retreat in the words of california it's called bohemian grove it's a gathering place for some of the most powerful men in this country and yes it is only now level where there is a lot of heavy drinking some sex that goes on during the secretive retrieve but even more importantly what about all the political deals that are made they could affect you and i as here christine fair is out west in california to try to find out for herself while cozaar and bahamian grow. it is nestled among the redwoods twenty seven hundred acres of pristine land broken down into dozens of camps and for two weeks every july since the eight hundred eighty s.

they've been filled with some of the most wealthy and powerful men in the world. many of them arrive on their corporate jets at the nearby sonoma county airport. others arrive in fancy cars which will fill the onsite parking lot and it's height . there is said to be more than two thousand men who attend and as you can imagine they are well protected by a trove of police right here i know so we're now covering the protests and we just wanted to see if there was i would like him as they get off the property there's no way we know it is not in our story all of the police come and rescue people. access is by invitation only and most pay more than fifteen thousand dollars to attend. and for more than thirty five years protesters have stood at the entrance gates park concern is not what's going on inside of the grove but what's happening

outside of the grove with the people that are in here according to several reports and this is where the idea for the manhattan project was conceived back in one thousand forty two it's also where every republican president since the sixty's has spent time before actually becoming the nominee we know for sure that richard nixon and ronald reagan sat down and the conversation about who was going to run for president when i mean they made a deal peter phillips wrote his dissertation on the bohemian club in one thousand nine hundred four and was invited to attend for four days he witnessed firsthand the opening of that the cremation of care where the power elite leave their cares behind in a symbolic ceremony beneath moloch the hour seen in this photo judge says he was a paid employee of the grove and drove the horse and buggy that carried the casket in the ceremony the casket represented bricklayers and they were actually. burnet and there. at the long lake with music this is

a place filled with secrets that only those who go inside and perhaps the trees will never really know but i was able to get my hands on some photograph i want to show you just to give you a sense on what it looks like on the inside this is a photograph of people who are ten as we mentioned it is all men and this is a photograph of them this year was taken back in one thousand nine hundred nine colin powell the back of donald rumsfeld and this is thomas kean two years later he would become head of the nine eleven commission here's a picture newt gingrich and we consider and reconsider son and another side of thomas kean here's a much younger dick cheney at the grove and henry kissinger having a little fun i was also able to get my hands on several programs from previous years outlining the schedule of talks and their topics and what we have here on july twenty second two thousand and eight is the late so talk given by c.f.r.

member and trilateral commission member fred starr. he gave a talk called afghanistan unexpected there are other connections to be made as well between the lakeside talks and public policy that this was a man that was involved in the. oil business george one quits the persian gulf crisis this is making eighty caspar weinberger who was the secretary of defense in the reagan administration on rearming america and that's easily documented the arms buildup came in around late eighty one eighty two. there are rumors of extreme drunkenness of prostitutes and of homosexual activities by members but for the most part it is the secret backroom agreements critics say should be brought to light that agreement can be you know occupying the middle east fighting terrorism. and

circling china politically and militarily for mary moore who's been researching bohemian grove for more than three decades what happens inside is symptomatic of a much larger problem we've all grown up taking civics trying to understand how the world works and we're all told that we elect representatives they go to washington we have total influence over them and they make decisions that are in the best interests of us then we start growing up and if we pay any kind of attention we find out that none of that is true in monterey california christine for south r.t. . and still ahead i'll respond to your comments that you left on line it's nice of you said it i read it segments and a judge starts the federal government in their tracks of their handling of a whistleblower case or not talk about tracking your cell phone tonight as a story that everybody should hear regarding a very powerful and very secretive tracking to all the governments around the world are using i can stay with. us.